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Calculation of Hijriyya, the Islamic Calendar
By admin | December 21, 2008
At the time of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon Him), the utterance of years did not use numbers, but based on an event that was considered important in those years. For example, the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon Him) was born on 12 Rabi-ul Awwal in `Year of the Elephant’ (`Am al-Fil), for the year, the force of Abrahah, a Yemenite Vassal of Ethiopia, intended to attack Ka`abah. Prophet Muhammad Elephant went for Isra’ Mi’raj on 27 Rajab ‘Year of sorrow‘(`Am al-Huzn), for the year, Khadijah (wife of the Prophet) and Abu Talib (uncle of the Prophet) passed away. The birth of the Prophet and events Isra’ Mi’raj coincided with the date 23 April 571 and 27 February 621 CE.
When the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon Him) passed away in 632 CE, the power of Islam covered only Arabian Peninsula. But at the time of Caliph Umar ibn Khattab (634-644 CE), Islam had spread from Egypt to Persia. In 638 CE, the Islam governor of Iraq Abu Musa al-Ash`ari sent a letter to Caliph Umar in Medina, He wrote: “Our letters have a date and month’s name, but they have no year numbers. It is the time for Muslim to make our own calculation of the year.”
Caliph Umar ibn Khattab approved his governor’s proposal. He, then, formed a committee which the chairman was the Caliph Umar himself. It had six members consisted of friends of the Prophet. They are Utsman ibn Affan, Ali ibn Abi Talib, Abdurrahman ibn Auf, Sa`ad ibn Abi Waqqas, Talhah ibn Ubaidillah, and Zubair ibn Awwam. They discussed to determine a reason for ‘year one‘ of the calendar that for so long was used without year number. There were members who recommended that the calculation began from the years of the Prophet birth (`Am al-Fil, 571 CE), and there were also member who recommended that year counted from the first revelation of God (al-`Am Bi’tsah, 610 CE). But eventually, the committee agreed a proposal from Ali ibn Abi Talib, that the year began since the hijra (migration of the first generation of Muslim from Mecca to Medina), or `Am al-Hijrah, coincided with 622 CE.
Ali ibn Abi Talib raised three arguments. First, God, in the Al-Quran, appreciates they who migrated (alladzina hajaru) very much. Second, the Islamic sovereign and independent materialized after the Muslims migrated to Medina. Third, Islam, throughout the ages, always expects to have the spirit of migration, the dynamic life that is not focused only on a situation and want to migrate to the better conditions.
Therefore, Caliph Umar ibn Khattab issued a decision that the year of the Prophet migration is Year One, and since that time the calendar of the Islam is called Hijriyya. 1 Muharram 1 Hijriyya of the Islamic Calendar coincided with 16 Tammuz 622 Rumi (16 July 622 CE). Year of this Caliph’s decision (638 CE) is directly defined as 17th year of Hijriyya. The earliest written document which noted year of Hijriyya (included Sanah 17 = Year 17) is the Announcement of Security and Freedom of Religion made by Caliph Umar ibn Khattab for the entire population of the city of Aelia (Jerusalem), who were newly released by the Islam force from the Roman colonization.
Topics: Science & Technology >< Sains & Teknologi, Social & History >< Sosial & Sejarah | No Comments »
